USPS to end saturday delivery | The Compost Bin | Forums

woah, that's not good,

The U.S. Postal Service plans to drop Saturday delivery of first-class mail by August in its latest effort to cut costs after losing nearly $16 billion last fiscal year, the cash-strapped mail agency said on Wednesday.

The plan would save about $2 billion a year, the Postal Service said. The mail agency will still deliver packages six days a week and will not change post office operating hours.

The Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year as it grapples with massive payments for future retiree health benefits and Americans' increasingly rely on online communications that drives down mail volumes.

The agency has been seeking congressional approval to get relief from those prepayments and for a larger restructuring to reduce costs. But with no short-term legislative fix in sight, the Postal Service is getting more aggressive in testing its own authority to make cuts.

“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America's changing mailing habits,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.

The 237-year-old institution ran into its legal borrowing limit last year and defaulted twice on required payments to the federal government.

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